1. Field of the Invention
The present teachings relate to metal and alloy nanoparticles and methods to synthesize the nanoparticles.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The desire to reduce the amount of expensive platinum group metals (hereinafter “PGM”) needed to obtain a required level of performance for various catalyst-based reactions is an ever present operational parameter for the design of many chemical reactions.
Enhancement of catalyst performance by alloying with various less expensive metals, by stabilizing preferred catalyst oxidation states, by minimizing deleterious interactions with support materials are some of the possible avenues to either reduce the amount of catalyst required or increase the efficiency of the chemical reaction, or both.
Use of metal-containing nanoparticles that can increase the utilization of catalyst and reduce the amount of catalyst required is also one of the possible approaches to achieve the same catalyst performance with a reduce amount of the metal component. Difficulty in controlling the particle size, distribution and uniformity of composition of the metal-containing nanoparticles are concerns with metal-containing nanoparticle preparation schemes.
A need exists, therefore, for synthesis methods to produce metal-containing nanoparticles with the desired dispersion, composition and distribution characteristics of the metal catalyst.